Cellulose is a major constituent of the cell wall of plants. Most cellulose for use as paper is derived from plants, such as woods.
In addition to plants, some bacteria, prokaryotic organisms, produce extracellular cellulose, called bacterial cellulose, in the culture medium during cultivation. Because of its superior property of dispersing in water, the bacterial cellulose has been utilized as an additive for food and cosmetics. Since it has physical properties different from those of cellulose produced from a wood pulp and the like, it has been applied as various industrial materials, for example, to an acoustic oscillation board in an audio speaker.
On the other hand, filamentous fungi, which are eukaryotes, are known to produce extracellular polysaccharides. Among polysaccharides produced by such filamentous fungi, polysaccharides, which have been reported so far to consist of glucose, similar to cellulose, are α-glucan including pullulan and elsinan, and β-glucan including β- (1→3)-glucan with branches or side chains of β-(1→3)·(1→6)-glucan and β-(1→6)·β-(1→4) glucan.
It has not been reported that filamentous fungi produce cellulose which is β-(1→4)-glucan.